Sun Overcome Struggles To Extend Winning Streak

UNCASVILLE — Practically to the quarter pole of this WNBA season, the Connecticut Sun have proven to be one of the biggest surprises so far. One of the league's four lottery teams in 2014, they lead the Eastern Conference with a 7-1 record..

For the Sun, who won just 13 games last season and have not made the playoffs since Anne Donovan became their coach in 2013, it's been a story of resilience and team play on both ends of the floor.

"They are showing me a lot of heart," Donovan said.

On Friday at Mohegan Sun Arena, the Sun did not play well but still defeated the Los Angeles Sparks 80-76 in overtime. It was Connecticut's seventh straight win since its opening night home loss to Washington. It's the first seven-game winning streak for the franchise since 2008.

"We still got the win, which speaks volumes to how hard we play and how we do not give up," said Alex Bentley, the Sun's leading scorer with 16 points per game.

The Sun did it in what's become their normal way; Connecticut rallied from a halftime deficit for the fourth time this season. In fact, the Sun, who trailed by 14 with under three minutes to play in the first half, are now 6-0 when trailing at the start of the second quarter.

"It was a bad night for us; we were not flowing in the beginning and fell behind," said Alyssa Thomas, who scored 11 points, but struggled through a 4 of 13 shooting night. "We knew that we had to pick it up defensively, and when our defense is good, that is when we are able to get our offense going. It came down to buckling down in the second half."

It was the fourth double-digit deficit Connecticut has overcome to win this season. They came back from 12 down at Atlanta, 15 down against Atlanta at home and down 10 at Los Angeles.

This time, they excelled by outlasting a winless (0-6) Sparks team with just seven players, including guard Jasmine Lister, who in April took a confetti shower in Tampa after helping UConn win its 10th national championship as its graduate assistant.

Lister, a stellar guard at Vanderbilt who was signed as a free agent last week, played 30 minutes, 41 seconds and was 3 of 6 from the field with three rebounds, two assists, four turnovers and seven points.

"You just have to keep things in perspective," Sparks coach Brian Agler said. "I know in this league if you have the injury bug and have people missing it is going to be hard to win games. My focus is on our team getting better. I am focusing on the people that we have and helping get them in position to win games. We are getting better and improving and I just told them we are not going to give in. We are going to keep fighting."

Led by Bentley's 18 points, the Sun had five players score in double figures and outscored the Sparks 25-12 at the free throw line. But they also shot just 34.7 percent from the field and were 3 of 16 from three-point range.

Veteran Camille Little had 13 of her 14 points after halftime. And Connecticut forced at least 19 turnovers for the fourth time in five games and the fifth time overall this year.

"When it does not click offensively it is very easy to get down defensively," Donovan said. "There was two different times in the game we had five consecutive stops, so this is a team that understands it is important to stay focused on the defensive end. It is a beautiful to coach a group that looks at the big picture."

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